Real iPhone competition - Android

[shigzeo]

I love it. For one, Android is open-source (not that that means anything- OSX was once based on open source core), and overall, a pretty good experience. There is a lot of excitement. In Barcelona, at the World Mobile Congress, Google made an exciting announcement: Android OS equipped handsets are shipping in extraordinary numbers: 60 000 per day!

WinMo may go up to the chopping block; who knows, Microsoft may buy RIM. Android is an exciting alternative, but also one which Apple really have to worry about. If Google and partners can continue shipping such vast quantities of handsets, it will really, really be rough on Apple's de facto lead.

I don't welcome any new overlord this time, but look forward to Apple's necessary evolution to keep the market interested. The App Store is one, for sure, but the creatively stodgy Californian company will have to decide on a few hardware innovations to keep a spec-happy population happy.

This from MobileCrunch

[NineSwords]

I had a few Androids in my fingers and my experience with them in direct comparison to the iPhone was that they were a joke.

They sell because they are more or less the only alternative to the iPhone for those that doesn't wan't to be tied to AT&T (in the US). If Apple would allow all networks to have native iPhones those numbers would be way less. I think that the only one standing in Apples way is Apple themself with their decision to market the iPhones by one provider only.

[shigzeo]

There is also the fact that a certain and growing segment of the population will always choose something other than the mainstream. If Apple continue successfully, selling more iPhones and iDevices, that segment will grow larger and more restless. Apple have their own creativity and decisions to settle against, but they also have a market which distrusts a 'dictator' as many like to call the top dog.

To them, any option will look better.

Some Android phones are very, very good, but of course, they are made by companies who have no idea of how to build software and therefore, don't understand user interfaces, GUI's, or how to interact with them. Apple have that major advantage. But... how long will it carry them on? The competition is learning swiftly.

[juubee]

I agree about there being a number of people who oppose what's the most popular. I was like that with the iPhone but I fell in love with the iPod touch.
But I will never get an iPhone.

[Thunderclaw]

I recently read an article that 60,000 Android phones are being shipped every day. That's not nothing.

http://mashable.com/2010/02/17/60000-android-phones/

[mrholder]

My cellular provider pushes HTC Hero. It seems like a nice piece of hardware. The next Android update should fix some of the software glitches that people might have been encountering.

[VejOut]

My girlfriend got rid of her iPhone 3GS to get the latest Droid phone. She spent two weeks with it and got rid of it only to go back to the iPhone 3GS again. She didn't find it as user friendly, or intuitive as the iPhone OS was. Sure there were some very cool apps but not enough to keep her from switching back.

[Aeaea]

I hear more and more stories from my friends of "fragmentation" on Android -- apps that work on some phones that don't on others (i.e., phones with supposedly compatible feature sets). That's the problem with open platforms and open hardware. It sounds really great, but in practice, manufacturers try to differentiate their products by adding proprietary features and slight differences to the firmware. End result -- you get JavaME all over again. Sad.

[scorelessmusic]

Being in the developer community in Singapore, I rub shoulders with people who depend on platforms for their bread and butter. There is one guy who's possibly one of the biggest game publisher in Singapore that I once spoke with recently. When I asked if he had plans for the Android he said the equivalent of 'heaven forbid'... as far as he knows, it's still a 'bad move' for game developers compared to the iPhone platform.

[shigzeo]

Being in the developer community in Singapore, I rub shoulders with people who depend on platforms for their bread and butter. There is one guy who's possibly one of the biggest game publisher in Singapore that I once spoke with recently. When I asked if he had plans for the Android he said the equivalent of 'heaven forbid'... as far as he knows, it's still a 'bad move' for game developers compared to the iPhone platform.

I think that is a fair guess. Android doesn't have stable hardware platform to leap from. As far as I know, the iPhone is the only handset platform which allows devs to tackle game programming on a pretty even keel. Of course that will change somewhat, but as long as Apple can keep focus on the technologic side of development rather than chasing hardware figures, it should be okay.